Tag: Journal

  • My Fun Day in Accra: Dance + Paint +Journal with Roxanne at Eleven15

    My Fun Day in Accra: Dance + Paint +Journal with Roxanne at Eleven15

    Let’s go outside and have fun. In this post, I take you with me to dance and paint with Roxanne at Elevent15 Restaurant / Lounge.

    This event was hosted by Roxanne, who is the founder of Dance 4 Mental Health. She is a life coach who produces content to demystify mental health and hosts activities to uplift mental health. During this event, we did some dancing, journaling, and painting.

    This was also my first time at Eleven15 Restaurant and Lounge. It is located in East Legon and is a really nice spot to enjoy the outdoors and colorful art. They also host different activities.

    We started with a short Kizomba dance. I look forward to dancing more next time.

    Part of the event included a writing exercise where we wrote about what pivotal moment has happened in our lives recently and what beliefs and consequences came out of that. We read each out loud anonymously.

    Overall, the main feeling in the group was deep frustration. There has been a disruption in important parts of their lives within the past year and things are not looking up. It was beautiful to be part of this circle as we shared encouragement and insight.

    This reminded me of how the heaviness we are carrying from last year has yet to be released. Rather, it’s being further compounded with the continued heaviness of this year.

    For what it’s worth, to those who feel this way and are keeping it bottled up inside, I want you to know I feel it too. This time last year I was also frustrated and sad. Maybe it was a good thing I had to stay home. I cried a lot. But, as time passed, I felt like my tears were part of a transformation. Like, you know how a butterfly turns into a butterfly? It’s not a pleasant experience, but the destination is beautiful.

    Just like the butterfly, no one can fix you or take action for you. I made a pivot, took action, and surrendered. Released my grip on control or what I thought was right. Fast forward now, I’m not crying as much and I’m balancing different frustrations. Life happens for you. These waves of feelings happen for you. The growth will happen for you if you take action and surrender. If you can do it alone, go for it. If you can’t, please reach out to the right people.

    Take care of yourself. You are worthy.

    Lastly, we painted a ballerina dancing. It was nice to see how we all customized our ballerinas at the end.

    I enjoyed spending time outside and meeting a lovely group of new people.

    Would you attend this type of event? What kind of activities would you like to see more of in Accra and Ghana? Share with me in the comments.

    Also, remember to connect with me. I love hearing from you.

  • New chapter. New challenge.

    Blog_30Layers

    The beginning of a new month can be exciting, frustrating, inspiring, and encouraging (not exactly in that order, but you get the idea). This fall I started a new chapter in my life as I pursue another adventure to get closer to achieving my purpose in life. With every new chapter, I try to add something new to make the experience wholesome. On twitter I came across GG Renee’s #30Layers30Days Self-Discovery Challenge. If you sign up for her newsletter, for the month of September she will send an e-mail with prompts to get you to reflect on what your reality is now and what your future can be. I love this idea!

    This past summer I got a new journal as a gift and had been pondering what type of thoughts to fill it with. When I was younger I would write daily about my activities for the day and slowly…got…bored. A few years ago I started an idea journal, filling it with visions and things I wanted to accomplish. I have yet to fill that journal, so I wanted this new one to take on a different direction. I’m going to start it with this challenge. I will be tweeting some of my responses and will probably do a blog post about the whole experience at the end of the month.

    I would like to share with you Day 1:

    START. STOP. CONTINUE.

    START:  What do you want to start doing?  What do you want more of in your life?  What feelings, what activities, what energy?   What baby step can you take today?

    I want to start being open to new connections and opportunities that are beneficial to my life.

    STOP:  What have you had enough of?  What are you tolerating or feeding into that is not adding value to your life?  What area of your life is begging for more boundaries?

    I’m going to stop retreating to observer-mode when I feel uncertain about my surroundings.

    CONTINUE:  What habits or trends do you want to continue?  What’s been working for you? What can you do to ensure you keep it going?

    I’m going to continue being true to myself regardless if it makes others uncomfortable.